Wheels of vehicles can be driven in a variety of different ways. One way to drive a wheel which is commonly used on motorcycles, but is also usable on other vehicles is to mount the wheel in a manner allowing it to freely rotate at a hub thereof upon an axle, and then to attach a wheel drive element to the wheel that is to be driven. Such a wheel drive can be in the form of a pulley, such as when the wheel is driven by a belt, or can be in the form of a sprocket, such as when the wheel is being driven by a chain. Whether the wheel drive is in the form of a pulley or a sprocket (or other wheel drive), the wheel drive element is fixed to the wheel in a position surrounding the hub of the wheel and typically with a center point of the wheel drive aligned with a rotational axis of the wheel.
The wheel drive is typically not formed along with the wheel, but rather is removably attachable to the wheel. Such removable attachability facilitates replacement of the wheel drive, such as to substitute a different wheel drive having different performance parameters or to provide maintenance on the wheel drive or on the wheel while separate from the wheel or wheel drive. To allow the wheel drive to be removably attached to the wheel a common fastening arrangement involves bolt bores formed in the wheel near the hub which have female threads therein and with the wheel drive having holes alignable with these bolt bores so that bolts can pass through the holes in the wheel drive and then thread into the bolt bores in the wheel. When these bolts are tightened down, the wheel drive is effectively secured to the wheel.
While this multiple bolt arrangement for fastening the wheel drive to the wheel is generally effective, it is vulnerable to the loosening of the bolts over time which can lead to diminished performance or even potentially catastrophic failure of the drive system. Accordingly, it is important to ensure that these bolts remain tightly threaded into the bolt bores in the wheel. Similarly, wheels are held to hubs, propellers are held to output shafts and other items are held to structures with a series of fasteners (or at least one). Known prior art solutions for keeping these bolts (or other fasteners, such as lug nuts) secure have not been entirely effective, such that there is an ongoing need for simple and effective ways to keep the bolts locked tightly to the wheel, so that the wheel drive or other item can be held securely to the wheel or other structure.